Hair curler



Nov. 18, 1969 N. c. JORGENSEN 3,478,755

HAIR CURLER Filed June 27. 1966 9 m a 1/ 42 a,

I INVENTOR wall-w, (a4, flew-4L) 4- uJQJZI ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,478,755 HAIR CURLER Niels Christian J orgensen, Esthersvej 19A, Hellerup, Denmark Filed June 27, 1966, Ser. No. 560,582 Claims priority, application Denmark, June 28, 1965,

Int. Cl. A4511 2/12 US. Cl. 13233 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a hair curler device wherein the vapor from fuel stored in the curler contacts a catalyst in the presence of an oxidizing agent such as air to generate exothermic heat. The rate at which the catalyst is exposed to fuel vapor and/or oxidizing agent may be controlled in order to control the heat generated.

This invention relates to a hair curler having means for effecting the heating thereof based on an exothermic chemical reaction.

It is Well-known to carry out a permanent waving of the hair by using hair curlers containing a mixture of compounds comprising an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent, which in the presence of moisture react exothermically with each other. Said prior art curlers also contain one or more compounds which control and regulate the rate of the exothermic reaction in such a way that shortly after said mixture has been moistened, there is generated a quantity of heat sufiicient to evaporate a part of the moistening liquid and at a rate such that the temperature thus obtained is kept constant during the remaining part of the hair waving process.

A serious drawback of said prior art hair curlers is that the generation of heat depends on the presence of suflicient amounts of the moistening liquid to soak said mixture. The result is i.a. that the prior art hair curlers are unsatisfactory for use in ordinary curling of the hair,

whereby the hair in moist condition is wound upon curlers and dried before the curlers are removed again. The use of said prior art hair curlers for said purpose would require an exact adjustment of the amount of said mixture present in the curler and a controlled admission of moistening agent. In practice this would be almost impossible, at least as far as the admission of moistening liquid is concerned.

However, even if said requirement might be fulfilled, the prior art hair curlers would be'unsatisfactory in view of the fact that the amount of said mixture of compounds would have to be adjusted to correspond to a standard quality of hair, so that such curlers would be unsuitable for drying e.g. fine hair which requires a shorter drying period than ordinary hair.

Furthermore, the prior art hair curlers suffer from the drawback that they are uneconomical in use due to the fact that the exothermic reaction, once started, cannot be stopped if excessive amounts of moistening agent are present. Thus when said hair curlers have been used, they will have to be thrown away or refilled with a further amount of said mixture of compounds, which refilling, due to the activity of some of said compounds, cannot be performed by unskilled persons.

The object of the invention is to eliminate these drawbacks of the prior art hair curlers and to provide a simple, economic and reliable hair curler of the abovementioned type.

With said object in view there is provided, according to the invention, a hair curler, which is characterized by the fact that is comprises a contact catalyst for catalysing the ICC oxidation of a fuel gas phase and means for storing said fuel in said curler.

By using a hair curler in which a contact catalytic exothermic oxidation may be effected, it is not necessary to supply other agents than fuel and an oxidizing agent, of which the latter is always present in the air in sufiicient amounts.

Furthermore, the heating of said hair curler may quickly and easily be stopped by isolating the catalyst from the fuel and/or the oxidizing agent.

Finally, by suitably compounding the catalyst it may also be avoided that it reaches such a high temperature that the hair of the scalp is damaged. Furthermore it is possible to select such fuel and such an oxidizing agent that only gaseous, non-toxic products of combustion are formed. Thus, the use of said hair curler becomes hygienic and completely safe.

Examples of suitable fuels are: low-boiling hydrocarbons, acetone, methanol and ethanol.

The fuel may be a gas which in condensed or partly condensed form is held under pressure in a container mounted within said hair curler and provided with a reduction valve.

In this case a relatively high amount of energy may be stored in said hair curler without excessively increasing its weight. To facilitate the checking of the amount of fuel present in the curler, said fuel container is preferably manufactured from a transparent material through which the liquid surface may be seen.

Instead of replacing the fuel container when it has been emptied, the user of the hair curler should preferably be able to refill said container. According to the invention this may be done by using a harmless volatile liquid fuel, which is sucked to the catalyst by means of a porous material provided within the container. Examples of such fuels are: methanol, ethanol and ether.

It is also possible to use a solid fuel, which by sublimation is converted into a gas.

An accelerator for the oxidation reaction or compounds which activate the catalyst, may be added to the fuel. An example of such compounds is hydrogen peroxide.

An especially preferred oxidizing agent is the oxygen in the air. By using the oxygen present in the air the need to provide special means for supplying an oxidizing agent to the catalyst is eliminated. The hair curler according to the invention is then constructed in such a way that the atmospheric air may be brought into contact with the catalyst.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the hair curler is provided with means for controlling the admission of fuel, oxidizing agent or both to the catalyst. Thereby, the user of the hair curler may herself control and adthe heating and may at a given time stop said heating The catalyst present in the hair curler according to the invention comprises preferably a micro-porous support, on the inner surface of which a micro-porous substance having a larger inner surface area is deposited. On the inner surface area of said micro-porous substance a layer, preferably mono-molecular, of a noble metal, such as platinum or palladium, is deposited.

To avoid ignition of the fuel and thus the development of a flame at the surface of the catalyst by admission of excessive amounts of said fuel, said oatalyst may be provided with an outer layer inhibiting the oxidation reaction.

In case a hair curler of the kind described has not been used for a longer period, it may sometimes be diflicult to start the oxidation reaction. However, said shortcoming of the hair curler may be eliminated by using a catalyst which may be activated or regenerated by subjecting it to i8. heating or irradiation treatment, which should then be performed immediately before the time the catalyst is to be used.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows a longitudinal section view through an embodiment of a hair curler according to the invention.

In the drawing, 1 designates a hair curler upon which there are provided bristles 2 which serve to fix the hair when it has been wound around the curler 1. Within the curler 1 there is provided a heating means which is generally designated with the reference number 3 and which is inserted into foam plastic rings 4 and 5 having essentially equal inner and outer diameters in uncompressed condition. Due to the fact that the heating means 3 has a larger diameter at the end which is inserted in the ring 5 than at the other end which is inserted in the ring 4, the ring 5 however is partly compressed thereby securing said end of the heating means while the other end may be displaced in axial direction in relation to the ring 4.

The heating means 3 consist of a cylindrical tube 6 serving as a fuel container and prepared from transparent plastic. One of the ends of said tube is closed by means of a closely fitting plug 7, the head of which is formed in such a manner that the user readily ma displace the plug and the tube in relation to the ring 4 and the curler 1.

In the other end of the tube 6 there is fixed another plug 8 having an axial passage in which a tube 9, extending along substantially the whole length of the tube 6, is inserted. In said tube 9 there is inserted a wick 10, for instance similar to a pipe-cleaner. The wick 10 is significantly longer than the tube 9 and is bent at one end in such a manner that a part of said wick is located along the outside of the tube 9 and reaches close to the plug 8. In the plug 8 there is also fixed a tube 11 which is provided with a number of openings 12 over which a catalyst body 13 is secured. The heating means 3 also comprises a cap 14 in which an inner central tube 15 is provided. The diameter of said inner central tube 15 is esssentially equal to the inner diameter of the middle part of the plug 8.

When the moist hair is wound upon the curler 1 the user of the curler may operate the plug 7 to move the tube 6 in axial direction in relation to the cap 14, for instance until the heating means has reached the position shown in the drawing, or even further. The fuel which is present in the fuel container formed by the tube 6, the plug 7 and the other plug 8, will then be sucked through the tube 9 by means of the wick 10 to the other end of said wick from which it will evaporate. The fuel vapours thus formed then contact the catalyst member 13 which is also in contact with the oxygen of the surrounding air through the space between the end of plug 8 and the open end of cap 14.

Thereby a contact catalyst exothermic reaction is initiated in the catalyst member and the heat generated thereby will dry the moist hair wound upon the hair curler.

Thus, by displacing the tube in relation to the cap 14 the user of the hair curler may control the rate of supply of both the fuel and the oxygen from the air and thus the generation of heat of the heatingmeans. She may also stop the contact catalytic exothermic reaction totally by exerting pressure on plug 7 to displace the tube 6 in the reverse direction until the plug 8 enters into the cap 14 and the innercentral tube 15 enters the middle part of plug 8. Thus fuel vapors are prevented from flowing from the wick to the catalyst 13 and air is prevented from flowing into cap 14.

What I claim is:

1. A hair curler capable of generating heat by an exothermic reaction comprising means storing a normally gaseous fuel in said curler in compressed form, means for releasing said fuel in gaseous form and a contact catalyst for catalyzing an oxidation of said fuel in gas phase.

2. A hair curler capable of generating heat by an exothermic reaction comprising a fuel container storing a fuel in the form of a volatile liquid, a contact catalyst for catalyzing an oxidation of said fuel in gas phase and a porous material capable of transporting fuel from said fuel container to said contact catalyst.

3. A hair curler as in claim 1 comprisng means for controlling the admission of fuel to the contact catalyst.

4. A hair curler as claimed in claim 3 comprising means for controlling the admission of oxygen of the air to the contact catalyst.

5. A hair curler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the fuel contains a minor amount of a substance which accelerates the oxidation reaction.

6. A hair curler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outer layer of the catalyst contains at least one substance which inhibits the oxidation reaction.

7. A hair curler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the contact catalyst is of a type capable of being activated or regenerated by heating or irradiation.

8. A hair curler as claimed in claim 1 wherein the fuel contains a minor amount of a substance to activate the contact catalyst.

9. A hair curler as claimed in claim 2 wherein the fuel contains a minor amount of a substance which accelerates the oxidation reaction.

10. A hair curler as claimed in claim 2 wherein the outer layer of the catalyst contains at least one substance which inhibits the oxidation reaction.

11. A hair curler as claimed in claim 2 wherein the contact catalyst is of a type capable of being activated or regenerated by heating or irradiation.

12. A hair curler as claimed in claim 2 wherein the fuel contains a minor amount of a substance to activate the contact catalyst.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,589,183 6/1926 Lewis 132--33 1,894,797 1/1933 Seward 132-33 3,103,934 9/1963 Sabourin 132-33 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner G. E. MCNEILL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 219-222 

